Winning blow: rook to g8 (g1·8)
c9-12433naming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Chess960 twist: use the unusual starting setup of the pieces.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1200 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
In Chess960 the pieces start on unfamiliar squares, so tactics appear earlier and from unusual angles. Do not trust classical patterns — read the actual lines of the bishops, the rooks and the queen from where they really stand in this position.
This position hides a concrete tactic that wins material or mates. Start with the most forcing candidate moves — checks, captures and threats — and calculate each to a clear end before choosing; the winning line is usually the one the opponent cannot meet.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king d1, queen f3, rook g1, bishop c2, knight e5, pawn a2 d2 f2 e4 h4.
Black: king c8, queen b6, rook b4, bishop c5 a6, pawn h5 e6 a7 c7 d7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 25 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
28. Rg8+ Kb7 29. Rb8+ Kxb8 30. Nxd7+ Kb7 31. Nxb6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g8 keeps the pressure (+3.3).
- Well found: rook to b8 (+3.8).
- Strong! knight to d7 is the sharp choice (+3.8).
- Best move. knight to b6 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kb7, then Rb8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Rg8+ — rook to g8 with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 29. Rb8+ — rook to b8 with check
- Kxb8 — king to b8 (capture)
- 30. Nxd7+ — knight to d7 (capture) with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 31. Nxb6 — knight to b6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #677.
SP-677 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 474.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #677Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-677
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